Warning! Today’s post is very picture-heavy… consider viewing on the website with your computer instead of on your mobile device.
www.UrbanEscapeVehicle.com
Day 2 of our rally started off with a fine selection of muffins, pastries, and more; all in the grand Alpine Coach Association tradition 🙂 And oh… I forgot to mention, yesterday we had breakfast burritos! Our hosts for this rally have sure outdone themselves already!
After our satisfying breakfast, everyone jumped in their respective vehicles or car-pools and headed out for the days scheduled activity; a guided tour of the Nethercutt Collection & Museum located in nearby Sylmar which is only 20 minutes away from our park.
Once again, here’s our itinerary for the week:
If you’re a “car-nut”, this place is for you! The Nethercutt Museum & Collection consists of two buildings of the finest restored vintage and antique automobiles in the world. They also have a huge assortment of mechanical musical instruments; but I was here to look at the cars 🙂
Be sure to click on the name above for a link to their website, or click here for a YouTube video tour that I found online taken in 2012. And if you are so inclined, here’s a link to another YouTube video of this fine car collection which was filmed for the TV series; My Classic Car from Season 9, Episode 10. On the My Classic Car episode, the host, Dennis Gage, tours the maintenance shop and restoration area of the Nethercutt Museum – which was something we weren’t able to see during our tour.
Streetside view of the Nethercutt Museum. This is across the street from the other building which houses the “car salon” and mechanical musical instrument.
We all gathered for our guided tour outside one of the buildings until they opened the doors.
I’ll let you read about the founders and how the museum collection came to be, from the website link I provided earlier.
So now… sit back and enjoy some of my favorite pictures from the day. But don’t worry, I didn’t include all 300 of them.. just my favorites, maybe 100, or so 🙂
Here we are listening to our tour guide inside an exquisite re-creation of an opulent automotive “grand salon” of the 1920’s and 1930’s.
Then we were set loose to browse the fine automobiles on our own recognizance.
It is my strong opinion that this is where the term “trunk” comes from. What do you think?
I’ve always liked the decorative “mascots” or hood ornaments… I’m sure some of these cost more than a new car nowadays.
Hope you’re not too bored with all the hood ornaments already, because there’s more to come…
But first, we ascended the semi-spiral staircase to the upper level(s).
Once on the first upper level, we viewed the fine displays and antiques.
And remember when I said earlier that there were more hood ornaments…
I have to wonder if there’s a larger collection of these anywhere else in the world?
We ascended yet another set of spiral stairs.
And found ourselves in the world of mechanical musical instruments, and they all worked…
But, before we listened to all the antique musical boxes in the huge room, we viewed the Louis XV style grand dining room.
Check out the infinite number of chandeliers effect in the mirror.
We viewed and listened to the various mechanical musical instruments that included: Nickelodeons; Cylinder & Disc Music Boxes; European Orchestrions; Grand Pianos; and more. Link here for more info on these devices if interested.
After viewing and listening to some of the finely tuned mechanical musical instruments, we got a mini-concert from the Wurlitzer pipe organ. All of these instruments were demonstrated by the museum’s mechanical music master technician/curator who acted as our tour guide.
After our senses were astounded with the visual and acoustic grandeur, we descended the many flights of stairs to depart the building.
We then went across the street to the second of the Nethercutt Museum buildings for a self-guided tour. By the way, did I mention that this is all free of charge? Here we were greeted by more finely restored automobiles and memorabilia that we wandered around gaping at.
I don’t think I’d kick any of these cars out of the garage for leaking oil on the floor, would you?
This 1936 Pierce-Arrow Travelodge trailer was a big hit with the Alpine Coach group.
And now, just when you thought there couldn’t be any more hood ornaments to take pictures of…
There were also display cases full of other types of antique automobile memorabilia.
Even headlights…
and horns…
spark plugs…
and more cars… Yay!
And then, just when we thought there couldn’t be anything more to astound us, we toured this cool train and luxury car that is stationed behind the building. Click here for more info on this 1937 Canadian Pacific Royal Hudson Locomotive and Pullman Private Palace Car.
We stood in line to get the free tour of the locomotive and the 1912 Pullman Private Car.
After listening to our tour guide give us the details, we toured the inside of this fully-restored luxurious palace car:
We stepped out of the car and onto the massive locomotive.
Yes, we even got to ring the bell.
That was one awesome locomotive! See a YouTube video of it’s farewell trip here.
And what an awesome museum! This is definitely a must-see attraction and you can’t beat the price.
We finally exited the museum late in the day and headed back to the campground.
On the way back to the campground, we made a stop at the local Camping World to get a new flex-hose water connection. I replaced the water filter when we got here, but the short flex-hose that connects to my quick-disconnect, developed a leak. Apparently, I overtightened it. Oh well, it was only $7.
Then we pretty much just lazed around for the rest of the day recuperating from all the walking. At least, that’s the excuse we used.
I hope you enjoyed today’s post. Tomorrow we take a tour of the William S. Hart Park & Museum, so check back in for a full recap.
Yoo Hoo! We arrived safely at the Valencia Travel Village for the Alpine Coach Association Pre-Rally to the FMCA Rally in Pomona. We made it here around 3 PM on Thursday after successfully navigating the bumpy and busy LA freeways thanks to our Rand-McNally GPS. Whenever we get near a major city after being in the wide open southwest – it seems that all the drivers are impatient and in a hurry… common-sense and courtesy seem to be things that are reserved only for non-urban areas. Oh well… we’re here, with only a few frazzled nerves from the sudden traffic jams and lack of merge etiquette.
Here’s an awesome sight… a long row of fine Alpine Coaches. I think there are about 30 Coaches in attendance, (I’ll confirm that number later). Our Coaches filled up the first two rows near the entrance to the park and we ended up in the front row with a view of the pool and spa across from us. 🙂
Everyone gathered at the designated meeting spot for our “Meet & Greet Social”. Once again, it was nice to see old acquaintances/friends and to meet new ones.
After an hour of “catching-up” with folks, it was time for our catered dinner from Panda Express. Great selections, great food, great people!
After our fine meal, we finished setting up the Coach and relaxed for the evening. We were lucky to get a shot for the satellite dish through the tall trees around our site. I thought we might have to move forward or back a few feet but it worked out.
In case anyone’s interested; here’s a view of our schedule for our time here at the Valencia Travel Village:
Since Friday is a “free” day, we decided to check out some sights in and around LA. I thought about downloading the Harley, but decided against it after recalling our freeway experience(s) on the way in here. So, we jumped in the Silverado and plugged “Hollywood Sign” into the iPhone. What did we do in the days before GPS?
After 35 miles and about 50 minutes later, we ended up at the Griffith Observatory parking lot which is also on the road to the Hollywood sign (which is closed).
Here’s some pics of our time at the observatory:
Hollywood sign as seen from Griffith Observatory.
LA skyline through the smog, from the Griffith Observatory.
Hollywood sign in the background, picture is from the top of the Griffith Observatory.Memorial to James Dean at the Griffith Observatory.Plaque on the Memorial to James Dean at the Griffith Observatory.
We each took turns walking through the observatory because little dog, Coach, wasn’t allowed 🙁
Giant rotating earth inside the Griffith Observatory.Giant rotating moon inside the Griffith Observatory.
Stilla and Coach greeted me outside the building after my fast-paced whirlwind tour. Pretty cool place… wish we had more time without having to worry about the dog… it was too hot to leave him alone in the pickup. Another must-see place.
After we left the observatory, we drove a little ways up the road to the Hollywood SIgn. A park ranger said that this is the first time in 20 years that vehicles can travel part way up the road. It’s still blocked off about 2 miles from the sign. Then we cruised around Hollywood and found ourselves at the La Brea Tar Pits.
The Page Museum and La Brea Tar Pits was pretty cool. But as usual, no dogs allowed inside the museum. At least we were able to walk throughout the grounds with him on leash.
I’m running late this morning, so I’ll close for now and join the group for our scheduled trip to the Nethercutt Museum. Stay tuned for Day 2 of our Pre-Rally…
We’ve been hanging out at the “dirt farm” in Casa Grande for a couple weeks now. The name “dirt farm” is not meant to be derogatory. It’s the name my brother and his significant other, Cheryl, have given to their 5-acre homesite complete with horses and chickens. It’s actually quite green for the moment with the recent rains and somewhat cooler weather.
This is also where my mom and stepdad live in their separate, but smaller pre-fabricated house. Brother Steven and Cheryl have the “big house” – a super-sized triple wide home.
We’ve been parked in front of Mom’s house, where stepdad Jim just finished hooking up a 50-Amp receptacle in the garage. Now we, or anyone else for that matter, can mooch power from either house… just depends on who you want to visit. 🙂 Although, the houses are only a couple hundred feet apart, we opted to park at Mom’s because it’s fenced in. This is great for little dog, Coach. We don’t have to put him on a leash… just let him out the door in the morning to do his business. Besides, as I reported earlier, the ground at Steven & Cheryl’s 50-Amp pedestal was still soggy from recent rain when we first arrived here.
When we weren’t working on the “dirt farm”, we went out to eat a few times… but that doesn’t mean we haven’t been eating well at the farm too! We’re going to have to get away from here so we can go on a diet! Just kidding Mom 🙂
While enjoying all the good meals and the company of family, we’ve been helping out a little with all the on-going projects around here. Some of these projects include, but are not limited to: running electrical power and burying cable for outlying sheds and a casita; putting up or moving fencing; spreading gravel and leveling with the bobcat; etc., etc.,
Brother Steve and Stepdad Jimmy spreading gravel.Mom’s future orchard… all leveled and ready for planting… almost…Mom working on the future fruit tree orchard.
And the first fruit tree goes in…
Mom’s first fruit tree in the new “orchard”.Earlier picture of Mom’s vegetable garden. There are now two rows of corn and one row of onions… more rows to follow…
I also used the time here to reorganize the contents of my cargo trailer and made room in my “Conex” storage container for more items. Now I can park either the ATV or the Harley inside the trailer, depending on which one we decide to haul around in the pickup with us.
Trailer contents before reorganizing.
The new Xantrex inverter/charger that I wrote about in my last post has been working as advertised. Although, when I did some checking, I found out that the technician forgot to tighten down the nuts that hold it to the basement wall. I guess he got distracted after finger-tightening the nuts… must have been tired from lifting the 75 pound unit into place.
Also, I think I need to come up with a junction box of some sort for the wire connections he spliced. I wish he would have taken the time to run new wires, the old ones (orange) were just a couple inches too short.
In other RV maintenance related news; I finally took the time to do something about the sagging insulation in the engine compartment. My stepdad had some super-sized washers that I was able to use after drilling holes through the closet floor (under the drawers). Don’t look too bad, eh?
I also fixed a support bracket for the charge-air cooler tube that had broken again. This bracket had been fixed once already by my old high school buddy and good friend, Mike Harris. My buddy Mike welded the bracket, but I think the extra weight of the sagging insulation that was laying on top of the tube was just too much for it. Thanks anyway Mike! 🙂
Oh, and by the way – the technicians at Speedco lied! They didn’t lube the u-joints on the Coach after changing the oil and replacing the fuel filter like they said they did. There was absolutely no evidence the dirt-encrusted grease fittings had been touched with a grease gun since last year. So I cleaned the fittings and lubed them myself while I was under there.
It’s been great spending time here at the “dirt farm’ with family. Thanks Ma, Jimmy, Steve & Cheryl! See you again soon… hopefully we’ll be back in time for some Easter fun at the farm 🙂
And now it’s time to move on… we’re signed up for an Alpine Coach Pre-Rally in Valencia CA that starts the 19th. After that, we’ll convoy to the FMCA Rally in Pomona. We’re looking forward to both rallies, there’s going to be lots of activities and new things to do and see.
Here we are at a rest stop by the Imperial Sand Dunes along I-8 yesterday (Wednesday) after we said our farewells and hit the road.
I decided to load the Harley and the bicycles for our next adventure in California. I parked the ATV safely away in the cargo trailer back at the “dirt farm”.
All loaded up for the rallies in California.
We found an overnight spot at the Red Earth Casino along highway 86 next to the Salton Sea. And the price was right, Free! We just had to stay at our $20 limit inside the casino…
Little Coach enjoying some California dirt.
We should make it to Valencia in a few hours after I post this. Check back in later to see what we’re up to. 🙂
It was a very early day on Tuesday – we had to get up around 5:30 AM and hit the road by 6 AM to make the 55 mile trip to Gilbert, AZ for my scheduled inverter/charger repair. The Xantrex inverter/charger went out on me last week on Thursday. I wrote about this in a previous blog post titled “Dirt Farm“.
Stilla joined my Mom, stepdad Jimmy, brother Steven, and his girlfriend Cheryl in their car so they could run “errands” (code for shopping) in and around the Phoenix area while I stayed with the Coach.
We arrived at Tekris Power around 7 AM. The knowledgeable technician, Robert Meeker, quickly verified that my old Xantrex RS2000 was ready for the trash can. They don’t make them any more and parts are hard to get… repairing the unit is not cost-effective. He determined that the best replacement unit is the Xantrex Freedom 3012. This is a nice 3,000 watt unit that will go well with my 8 house batteries and residential fridge.
Urban Escape Vehicle parked behind the Xantrex “authorized” service center in Gilbert, AZ.Items on display inside the office at Tekris Power.
My extended warranty company, EasyCare, sent a warranty coordinator to verify the failure and authorize the replacement. He arrived around 10AM, took photos, asked questions, and filled out a lot of paperwork. We got word by telephone that the replacement was authorized about an hour after he left. The end-result was a bill for a little over $3000… luckily my portion only ended up being around $375 thanks to the extended warranty.
Here’s the old RS2000 unit on Robert’s workbench. Notice the small vents on the bottom that are clogged with dust. This side was mounted against the wall and probably contributed to it’s demise. Although, it has lasted 10 years – which is a pretty good run for an inverter/charger. The Coach is a 2005 model.
Robert packed up my old inverter/charger in the box from the new unit. I decided to keep it in case someone might need parts or want to have it repaired.
Here’s Robert mounting the new unit on the back wall of the basement where the old unit was. He must have crawled in and out of there about 50 times before he was done hooking things up.
And here’s the new unit all mounted and ready for wiring.
While my technician, Robert was working away… I got a text from my friend, fellow Alpine driver and blogger, Mike Kuper. He and his lovely wife, Donna are currently staying at an RV Resort in the nearby Mesa, AZ area.
Mike came over on his scooter to visit and provide moral support while the Coach was getting fixed.
Mike hung out with me for a good portion of the day while we talked Alpine and full-time RV stuff. We even walked over to a nearby restaurant, Los Favoritos to have some fish tacos for lunch. It was good seeing Mike again… it’s a small RV world after all 🙂
We first met Mike and Donna in Portland, OR at an Alpine Coach Pre-Rally in August 2014. We convoyed together afterwards to the FMCA Rally in Redmond where we enjoyed more time with them on a sightseeing trip to Lava Lands in addition to other rally activities.
Here’s a few pictures we took back then on a hike we took around an old volcano… this was before I was doing the blog:
Donna and Stilla at Lava Lands National Monument (Oregon) in August of 2014.Lava Butte – Newberry National Volcanic Monument near the Lava Lands Visitors Center in August of 2014 with Mike and Donna.Lava Butte – Newberry National Volcanic Monument near the Lava Lands Visitors Center in August of 2014 with Mike and Donna.
Mike has a great blog named “Flying the Koop” that I read regularly. I even emulated his website when I was starting mine. Check it out.
After Robert finished up the inverter/charger replacement and put in a new system control panel to replace the old one (they weren’t compatible), we tested everything out with shore power and the generator. We even boiled some water in the microwave using just the inverter on battery power… don’t think the old unit would let me do that! I paid my portion of the bill and headed back to Casa Grande. Stilla and the others were still out shopping and running around the greater Phoenix area, so I drove back alone.
I knew it was time for an oil change and what better time than now – since I was already out and about. It’s been a year since the last service and we’ve put on about 8000 miles since then.
Mike told me he had a good experience at Speedco near Casa Grande, so I plugged them into the GPS and got there by 5 PM. Thanks for the tip Mike!
After a 20 minute wait, they drained and replaced my 25 quarts of engine oil and the filter. Then they replaced my fuel-water separator filter with a Baldwin BF 1293-SPS, but couldn’t get to the other fuel filter (an FF5488) that is hidden above the starter. That one was replaced last year and the shop that did it then, had to remove the starter to gain access. I decided to let that one go until next time… maybe I’ll try to tackle that one myself.
I paid the somewhat reasonable $200 bill and got back to the “dirt farm” shortly after Stilla and the rest of the family.
We decided to stay parked in front of my Mom’s house because it’s fenced-in. This is convenient for little dog “Coach” so he doesn’t go near the horses or get chased by the chickens at my brother and Cheryl’s. We’ll have to test out that 50-Amp pedestal they installed next to their house another time. Meanwhile, we’re doing ok with an extension cord to a 20-Amp outlet… especially, since I have a new 3000 watt inverter 🙂
Time to close out todays blog post and go help out around the farm here in order to earn our keep. Wouldn’t want to wear out our welcome here with the family… especially since we still don’t have a buyer for the house back in Colorado Springs yet. We need to save some bucks in the campground budget category until we head to Valencia and Pomona on the 19th. At least we’ve already paid for those rallies.
We’re still hanging around the “dirt farm” with my Mom, stepdad Jim, brother Steve, and Cheryl. Since the inverter/charger went out on the Urban Escape Vehicle, (see my last post) we’ve been minimizing battery usage by having meals and watching television with our hosts. Thanks family!
Urban Escape Vehicle parked in front of Mom’s house at the “dirt farm”.
We still haven’t moved over to the 50-Amp pedestal that brother Steve had installed next to his house, since it wouldn’t do us any good now anyway. You may recall from my last posting, that recent rains prevented us from parking there when we arrived. The ground was pretty soggy… wouldn’t want to sink in and get stuck.
Anyway, I was able to schedule an appointment with the authorized Xantrex service center in Gilbert, AZ for Tuesday morning. We’ll depart early in the morning to get there by 8 AM.
Meanwhile, we’ve just been puttering around here or in the local area. Yesterday (Sunday) we drove over to Coolidge to browse the flea market with Mom and Jim. Mom picked up a few more fruit trees to plant at the farm.
Entrance sign to the national monument from the main road in Coolidge, AZ.
We were able to use my disabled veteran National Parks Pass in lieu of the entrance fee.
Entrance sign in front of the Visitors Center.
The visitors center was chock-full of displays and informational placards.
We watched the film in the theater and then browsed all the displays until it was time for the guided tour.
Artists conception of daily life back in the day.
Here’s a diorama of the “Great House” with informational placard below.
I was surprised to learn there’a a large number of archeological sites throughout Arizona.
Once you step out the back door of the Visitors Center, you are greeted with a grand view of the ruins.
When it was time for the guided tour, we gathered under the pavilion.
Our tour guide, John, was passionate and knowledgeable. His background was in engineering, so he gave his presentation from that perspective.
Here, our informative tour guide John, is explaining how one of the circular openings in the wall align with the setting sun on the summer solstice.
Another view of the ruins from the front, or is it the back? Oh heck, the other side.
Informational placards were placed throughout the compound:
Mom and stepdad Jimmy posed for a picture.
Then it was our turn.
Another view of the ruins. I found it interesting in itself that the protective structure was built around 1932. It replaced a wooden structure that was in place before that.
After our tour of the Casa Grande Ruins, we took the short walking tour from the parking lot to view some more of this compound. Here’s the ball field with another informational placard in the foreground.
There were many of these signs all around the parking lot and compound.
Stilla supported one of the local “artists” inside the visitors center.
Great tour!… I would highly recommend it for anyone visiting the area.
Back at the “dirt farm” there’s always something to do. Here’s some electrical wire getting laid in the ground to power up the sheds, and recently built casita.
And here’s Jim and Steve filling in one of the ditches. I even helped a little… the fun part was packing it back down by running over the fresh dirt with the ATV 🙂
Anyway, gotta run and help out a little more…
Stay tuned to see how our repairs to the Urban Escape Vehicle go tomorrow…
We’ve enjoyed our time here in Prescott Valley at Scott and Julie’s house. But, with more rain and possible snow expected on Tuesday afternoon, we decided it was time to head south for warmer weather while we had the chance. So, we said our sad goodbyes in the morning between rainstorms and moved on. Plus, we didn’t want to wear out our welcome at the Richardson Ranch 🙂
View out Scott and Julie’s backyard.
The evening before we left, Julie made us an awesome spaghetti dinner… thanks Julie!
Here’s our moochdocking spot, looking east. The streets were finally drying somewhat after the last couple days of rain. Sure Julie… we believe you… it’s really nice weather here most of the time… suuuure…. 🙂
And here’s looking west.
Our hosts saw us on our way. Bye Scott & Julie… see you again soon! Thanks again! We’ll definitely be back to see some of the local attractions with you when the weather’s better.
A sign over I-17 just north of Phoenix told us to drive with care due to winter weather conditions. Luckily, we were able to stay dry and the Urban Escape Vehicle stayed clean except for a very brief rain shower near the middle of Phoenix.
By the way – we had decided to go down to the “dirt farm” in Casa Grande to stay a while with my Mom, Stepdad, brother Steve, and his girlfriend Cheryl. They reported good weather there, plus we can save a little money on diesel and campgrounds until it’s time to go to California for a couple Rallies in mid-March that we already signed up for.
We got to the “dirt farm” without incident after fueling up and dumping tanks at a Pilot/Flying J nearby.
Brother Steve and Stepdad Jimmy showed us the 50-Amp pedestal they finally got installed 🙂 However, the ground was still pretty soggy from recent rain at the designated spot, so we opted to park in front of Mom’s house until it gets a little drier here.
Our own 50 amp pedestal at the “dirt farm”. Pedestal is to the right, next to the house.Pedestal with 30 and 50 amp service!Brother Steven and Cheryl’s house, aka “the dirt farm”. Their name for it – not mine 🙂
Here’s where we’re parked in front of Mom and Jimmy’s house on the “dirt farm” until the 50-amp site on the side of Steven and Cheryl’s dries out.
View up the drive. The Coach is parked in front of Mom’s house on the right.
On Wednesday, we downloaded the ATV from the pickup and puttered around. Here’s Mom (below) starting her garden. She’s planting some corn and onions. The “dirt farm” has gotten quite “green” since we were last here in mid-January.
We went into town for lunch at a place we call the “Cactus Garden Restaurant”. It’s official name is BeDillon’s. Nice place, good food with cool ambience, this was the second time we’ve been here. They even have a little museum on site.
After lunch, Mom had us all working hard in the garden. We even managed to keep the rows straight and even, with a little help from tent stakes and string. Then we enjoyed another family meal and an evening of movies.
On Thursday, I helped stepdad Jimmy pick up supplies at Lowe’s so he could finish up some more electrical runs and breaker boxes to supply power for outlying sheds and the garage. There’s always something to do here at the farm.
When I returned and stepped into the Urban Escape Vehicle, I heard the Inverter/Charger (Xantrex) alarm going off. The display panel indicated an Inverter/Charger internal fault and there was no power except for 12 volt. This is especially bad for us because we have a residential refrigerator. We must always leave our Inverter/Charger running with the Inverter “enabled” in order to power the fridge at all times.
I checked everything I could think of, but we have no 110-120 volt power to anything, no matter what I do. Every time I reset (either from the display panel or on the actual Inverter/Charger) it goes directly to “fault-mode” and the alarm sounds.
Our surge-guard appears to be working fine and “clicks” when I plug in to shore power. The generator appears to be supplying voltage when I turn it on, but again, the Inverter/Charger keeps going to “fault-mode” whenever I “enable” the Inverter portion of the Inverter/Charger.
Now, I thought that when hooked to shore power or with the generator running, I could still power all my appliances (Fridge, Microwave, TV, etc.,) without the Inverter being “enabled”. But, since I ALWAYS leave my Inverter “enabled” for the times when we disconnect from shore power or turn the generator off… so that the batteries will continue to provide seamless power – I’m not sure. I certainly can’t get any appliances to work now, no matter what I do with the Inverter/Charger.
Here’s a picture I took of the Inverter/Charger which is mounted sideways on the back wall of the basement. It’s the RS2000 model from Xantrex, and I’m relatively sure it’s original equipment from 2005. As you can see from the lights; the “Network” light is on and the “Charger Enable” light is on. In this current state, it does not alarm, but there is also no power to any appliances. Now, if I press the “Inverter Enable” button, the “Fault” light comes on and the alarm sounds at the display panel at the front of the Coach in the upper cabinet. The display shows “Fault F026 – Inverter/Charger Internal Failure”.
I then have to hit the “Reset” to stop the alarm.
I checked the network wires and connections.
I pulled off the front panel to see if there was anything obviously loose or wrong.
All the connections are tight and clean.
Then I pulled off the top cover. Note: All necessary safety precautions were taken – no one was hurt in the making of this blog post.
Again, nothing obviously wrong. I guess it’s time to call my extended warranty service and see what run-around I’ll get from them (based on my past experience with the refrigerator compressor) and see where they will allow me to take this problem to get fixed. Oh well, always a new adventure… it’s a good thing we’re parked where we are and not in the boonies somewhere, eh?
We emptied the refrigerator and freezer and moved everything into the house… thanks Mom and Cheryl!
Hopefully, we can get this resolved without a lot of money or drama. Honestly, I should have seen this coming, because I HAD noticed recently that the Inverter/Charger was louder than usual. It always “hummed”, but lately it’s been louder than I remember. I chalked it up to the lower voltage service we’ve subjected the Coach to in recent weeks; 30-Amp at Alamo Lake State Park, garage power (probably 20-Amp) at Scott & Julie’s, and now 20-Amp in front of my Mom’s house…
I called our extended warranty service, EasyCare. They tell me that there are only two “authorized” Xantrex service centers in Arizona. One is in Tucson, the other in Gilbert. I’ll be making some calls in the morning. Stay tuned…
It’s wet, cold, and raining in Prescott Valley this morning (Monday), so we’re just hunkering down… we got here on Friday and I’ve used the last couple days to play catch-up on the blog since we didn’t have connectivity during our week-long stay at Alamo Lake State Park. Now let me bring you up to date on our time here so far…
Scott and Julie Richardson inside their retirement ranch.
It’s great to see Julie again… we haven’t seen her since May of last year at her retirement party in Colorado Springs. After we arrived on Friday afternoon, we got caught up on recent events and old times a little bit and shared what little knowledge we had about mutual acquaintances’. We also got the “grand tour” of Scott and Julie’s beautiful home, aka., “Richardson Retirement Ranch” or (3R).
We parked the Urban Escape Vehicle in front of the 3rd garage so we wouldn’t block the driveway. Then we ran an extension cord to the garage outlet so we wouldn’t have to run our generator to charge the batteries.. the residential-type refrigerator sure sucks them down. Thanks for the juice Scott and Julie! And also the moochdocking, – er, I mean boondocking spot!
On Saturday, we took a little driving tour to catch some of the sights in the area. Julie acted as our tour-guide and we all piled into her car. We went north on AZ-89A aka the “Prescott Jerome Hwy” towards Sedona. We hadn’t gone very far up the winding pass before we spotted snow on the higher mountain tops around us. Ugh… thought we’d left that behind in Colorado.
We stopped to enjoy the view at a pull-out. It was windy but not raining yet.
When we got to Jerome, AZ, we decided to park and walk around a bit… what a neat town nestled on the hillside.
Here’s a pic I swiped from Google Images:
And here’s some actual pics we took while wandering around a bit.
Anyone recognize the lamp in the window?
We heard that the hotel in the pic below is supposed to be haunted.
We drove on down the pass and finally rolled into the picturesque town of Sedona. (don’t forget to click on the link for more info).
As you can see below, the rain picked up once we arrived in Sedona.
The rain didn’t stop us from shopping for some t-shirts though…
We passed by Pink Jeep Tours, who has quite a large fleet… and the crummy weather didn’t appear to be stopping tourists from lining up to take tours in the rain.
How about a couple more pics of the area:
Our downtown area walk was cut short with a brief downpour that made us dash for the car, so we headed on over to the Golden Goose Cafe & Bistro for a late lunch / early dinner. Scott and Julie treated… thanks again guys, you didn’t have to do that.
After our fine dining experience, we drove over to the nearby Chapel of the Holy Cross. Don’t forget to click the previous “green” link to go to the official church website, or here for more pictures from Google.
We were able to park in the upper lot and made the short walk to the semi-circular walkway up to the chapel.
Stilla, Julie, and Scott on the walkway up to the church.
The views from inside the church windows looking out – were awesome.
And here’s some views from the landing in front of the church entrance.
After visiting the picturesque church, we continued south on (also) picturesque route 179 until we got on I-17 which we took to the 169 exit, and then back to the house, effectively completing our loop for the day.
On Sunday, we stayed close to the area. Our highlight for the day was a trip to the local IN-N-OUT Burger. Yummm. This time Scott and Julie allowed us to treat. Julie acted as our chauffeur once again. Thanks Julie!!
Then we drove through the Bob Stump VA Medical Center… reminded me of an old Army base stuck in the ’50s. Check out the officer’s housing area:
Unfortunately, the museum here was closed.
In downtown Prescott, we stopped briefly in the rain for a picture of the courthouse. The crummy weather prevented us from wanting to wander around.
Then, on the way back home, we stopped at the Phippen Museum for a little “Art and Heritage of the American West”.
However, only a small portion of the museum was currently open for viewing due to new exhibits being put into place. So we opted to save our $7 per person entrance fee for another time and just browsed the gift shop.
Then we headed back to the house to relax again and hide out from the rain.
And that brings us to the present… here it is Monday (my new favorite day of the week since retirement) and it’s still raining outside. It rained all night, and it’s even been snowing a little bit this morning. At least it’s not sticking.
So we plan on just staying inside to wait out the weather. There’s a lot of cool stuff to see around here, but none of it’s quite so fun to do in the rain and cold.
As a parting shot… Julie shared this picture of an eagle with me that she saw in the back yard just the other day. We haven’t seen it since though… probably hiding from the cold weather like we are 🙂
We made it back to Scott and Julie Richardson’s house this evening (Sunday) after enjoying the day with them touring the area. I’ll post about that shortly.
But first, I have to bring you up to date on the rest of our time at Alamo Lake State Park. As I mentioned in my last post, the reason I got behind is because internet connectivity at the lake was almost non-existent. So, to continue on where I left off in my last post from this morning, here’s what we did…
21 Feb (Saturday):
We got invited to go ATVing with some other campers that we got into conversation with the day before. So we graciously accepted their invitation and met the group first thing in the morning. We carried our little dog “Coach” in his doggie backpack. And off we went…
There were seven ATV’s in the group altogether and our first destination for the day was going to be the “Mud Cliffs” that you can see on the right side of the hand drawn map (below) that we got from the ranger station. Our start point is labeled “Camp C” in the lower center of the map.
Stilla took some pics while riding on the back.
And here are the Mud Cliffs.
We rode through the sandy bottom of the gorge between the impressive cliffs.
The trail got smaller and smaller as the cliffs closed in on each side. Most of the group waited at the entrance to the cliffs because they had been there before and many of the side-by-side ATV’s were too wide to make it very far without getting stuck anyway.
We rode until the trail was blocked.
Then we parked and walked a little ways further up the canyon.
Stilla posed (at a safe distance) under an arch that looked like it could collapse at the first hint of rain.
After our “Mud Cliffs” adventure, we rejoined the rest of the group and headed further east. The destination was supposed to be a magnesium mine that some in the group had an agenda to see. However, during a short rest break, one of the side-by-side ATV’s wouldn’t restart. So we ended up spending the next hour or so troubleshooting the problem. We finally got it restarted but it was getting late so everyone decided to head on back instead of continuing on to the mine.
We got back in time to stop at the “Wayside Inn” before they closed for the day. This little bar and grill is in the middle of nowhere but they still manage to serve up great burgers and fries. They also have the only gas for sale within 35 miles.
Little “Coach” was happy to run around a bit after a long day of riding on the ATV. We had gone about 55 miles for the day and still had a few more miles to get back to the campground.
The “Wayside Inn” A small campground bar and grill – miles from nowhere.
One of the other riders in the group had a Can-AM ATV just like ours. His was a year newer than our 2007, but it was the same silver “limited-edition” series… the first one I’ve ever seen like ours. I took a couple pics and took note of how his mirrors are mounted because that’s something I’d like to add to ours in the near future.
We finished up our adult beverages (also available at the Wayside Inn) and motored on back to the campground to call it a day. And what a fun day it was!
22 Feb (Sunday):
We decided to spend the day (Sunday) on the lake to see if we could get some good use out of the $55 Arizona fishing license I purchased at the ranger station when we got here. So we broke out our Sea-Eagle inflatable raft that we keep in the back seat of the truck. It’s the SE-9 model called the “Fisherman’s Dream” with an electric trolling motor. We got ours from InflatableBoats4Less.com. The link to the SE-9 model we purchased is here.
We bought some live minnows at the ranger station / general store ($2.75 per dozen) and went to the boat ramp on the west-end of the lake to inflate the boat. After we got the boat into the water, we slowly motored our way to the other end of the lake while I trolled behind us with the minnows for bait. Unfortunately, by the time we got to the east-side of the lake, which is peppered with dead trees, the wind had picked up significantly. We were told that the “hot spot” for fishing was near the dead trees, however, an inflatable boat, no matter how sturdy, is no match for dead trees sticking up out of the lake… especially in high winds. So, we had to cut our day short and motor all the way back against the wind. We were worried the battery might not hold up, but luckily we were fine and didn’t have to flag down anyone for a tow.
Once we were safely back at the dock, we stored the trolling motor and battery, left the raft inflated and loaded it onto the back of the truck. We then released the remaining minnows on their own recognizance to fend for themselves in the dark waters of the lake.
Oh well, there’s always another day. You know what the say; “A bad day of fishing is better than a good day at work” 🙂
We spent the rest of the day hanging around the Coach. I used the time to give the ATV a good washing. Then I cleaned and serviced the K&N air filter after removing an old animal nest I found under the plastic cowling in front of the seat. A fellow camper gave me some of the “recharge” oil I needed to properly service the filter.
I know you’re disappointed, but there’s only one picture for the day.
It rained off and on all night.
23 Feb (Monday):
It was still sprinkling in the morning and it was chilly… I don’t think we’ve had temps this cold since we left Colorado. Another ATV ride had been scheduled with the same group we hung out with before, but everything was cancelled due to the poor weather.
We took the inflatable boat off the back of the pickup and drained out all the water it had collected overnight.
Then we decided to take the pickup out to the Wayside Inn to get our 5 gallon fuel can refilled, but that ended up being a short trip because the dirt road that goes out to the Inn was too muddy… I didn’t want to spend another day just washing the truck. We turned around and went back to the campground.
So we ended up taking another trip up to the dam to look for burro’s. We’ve heard the burros almost every night but haven’t seen any yet… Stilla wants to see some burros. Unfortunately for Stilla, no burros were to be found anywhere… just several road signs that say; “Watch for Burros”.
The rest of the day, we spent hanging around the Coach. At least the rain washed some of the dust off the Coach, so I spent some time wiping it dry once it stopped drizzling. Then we closed out the rest of the day with a lot of television.
24 Feb (Tuesday):
It was another chilly morning, but at least it was dry. We got invited to join a different group this time to do another ATV trip. The destination today was a giant Saguaro cactus that someone in the group had discovered on an earlier trip. This time, we left little dog “Coach” in the big Coach since it was supposed to be a long ride.
There were seven or eight ATV’s in our group today.
It was a long way out, but we finally arrived at the giant cactus.
Stilla posed for this picture which gives the huge cactus some perspective.
Pretty impressive, eh?
We then headed towards a distant mountain range… the goal was to see if there was a way across and then back to the campground. That goal was not realized…
Along our route to the mountain range, we stopped to explore around some abandoned mines.
Everyone had brought their own lunch which we stopped to enjoy after checking out the abandoned mines.
We then headed on up the mountain. Check out the long winding road in the picture below.
Here we can see the top of the mountain with all the antennae on top.
Getting closer to the top.
View back towards the lake… way in the background.
We ended up having to turn around at a gate near the top. At least the views were awesome. It’s a shame we couldn’t make it all the way up, or even better, down the other side. The GPS said we had attained an altitude of ~5,200 feet above sea level.
We stopped at the Wayside Inn on the way back. We must have been on fumes after traveling over 70 miles for the day. The fuel gauge was showing empty for miles before we finally rolled in. They close at 4 PM on weekdays, so we were especially lucky to have made it back on time, just as they were closing. Another good day!
25 Feb (Wed):
Today (Wednesday) was another full day of ATVing. We met John the first day we got here and he was with the group from yesterday when we visited the giant cactus. He and his wife offered to take us to the north side of the lake to “Red Canyon”. We took little “Coach” along with us today.
We crossed to the north side of the lake by going through the marsh-like river bed on the east side.
It was dry where we crossed the river, the water was running underground. John said they had to ford through at least six inches to a foot of water when he crossed last week.
After an hour or so we finally reached the “Red Canyon”. Here’s some pics for your viewing pleasure…
We even explored a couple side canyons, but most just dead-ended like this one.
This is truly a “must-see” canyon… and super fun to ride through. We’re going to have to come back here sometime in the future to explore of the area, we only scratched the surface from what we’ve been told. We ended up going about 50 miles for the day.
26 Feb (Thursday):
It was time to give the fishing another try. Today, the water was calm with very little wind. We stopped at the ranger station / general store to get some more minnows on the way to the boat launch. We met a guy that was checking out of the campground and he offered to give us his remaining minnows. I thanked him and we hit the lake.
Stilla thought it would be funny to take a picture of my catch. Really, it’s the bait minnow ready to go into service and do his duty.
This time, we stayed on the west side of the lake and didn’t worry about trying to go around the dead underwater trees on the east side. We didn’t want to get caught too far away from the boat launch if the wind picked up again… plus, we didn’t want to fight for space with the other fishermen in their boats.
After an hour or so, I hooked a fairly large fish, but it got off the hook just as Stilla was putting the net in the water. Bummer.
But it wasn’t too long before I landed another one.
It was a male crappie according to a fellow fisherman and our ever-helpful friend; Wikipedia.com.
It was a slow fishing day according to other fishermen that I talked to later. But at least I didn’t get skunked this time 🙂
We cleaned the fish back at our campground at the fish cleaning station with the help of yet another friendly fellow camper that was an experienced fisherman. We got some pretty nice filets for the freezer.
Here’s a final parting shot of the lake, since this is our last day here.
Tomorrow, we plan on moving on, as our weeklong reservation concludes.
And Stilla finally got a picture of some of the local burros. So she’s happy too.
Goodbye and good evening from Alamo Lake State Park. We’ll be back!
27 Feb (Friday):
We left the state park after driving the Coach over to the dump station and taking care of business there. Tire pressures are all still holding… no more slow leaks, at least for now.
Once we drove the 35 miles or so to get back to highway 60, we expected our AT&T service to be back on. But, alas, it was not to be… it seems we used all our “off-network” allowance and can only connect once we get an actual AT&T 3G signal. At least we can still make phone calls, but I guess we’ll have to wait until the end of our billing cycle to get the “off-network” ability reset in order to use WiFi or google maps, etc.,
We decided to head east on 60, and since we were this close to Prescott Valley where my good friend and former coworker (Julie Richardson) now lives, I gave her a call to see if we could stop by.
After ~150 miles, and the help of google maps, we made it to Scott and Julie Richardson’s beautiful retirement home. And guess what – there’s a strong AT&T 3G signal here!
I’ll post more about our visit here at the “Richardson Ranch” later. Stay tuned…
Sorry readers… haven’t been able to post since we got to Alamo Lake State Park last Thursday due to limited connectivity. Our Verizon MiFi Jetpack had zero signal and our iPhones on the AT&T network only had one bar and we were “off network”. We were lucky to even be able to make phone calls.
We are now in Prescott Valley at the home of Scott and Julie Richardson. Julie is a friend and former co-worker from my days at the Missile Defense Agency (MDA). We were both in the MDA Contracting Directorate together at Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado Springs. Julie retired at about the same time that I resigned from my position back in May of 2014 and moved here to their lovely retirement home in Prescott Valley, AZ. We drove straight here from the lake (about 150 miles) when we learned that they were home and also willing to put up with us for a day or so.
Scott & Julie Richardson at their “retirement ranch” in Prescott Valley, AZ.
Plus – They have great internet connectivity 🙂
But first, let me bring you up to date with our adventure(s) since I last posted. It’s been a fun week with lots of off-roading on the ATV and even some fishing in the Sea-Eagle inflatable…
19 Feb (Thursday):
We got ready to leave Havasu Springs Resort and I noticed one of the tires was low on the Silverado. It was only at 20 psi, it should have been at 35 psi. The truck has a built-in sensor in each tire that alerts the driver on the instrument panel when it’s started or while driving. At the same time, one of the rear tires on the Coach was reading about 85 psi and it should be at 95 psi. I have a tire pressure monitoring system from Pressure Pro that I bought shortly after we got the Coach. It has sensors that replace the valve caps on each tire. Each of these valve caps have a non-replaceable battery in them that send a wireless signal to my display that I plug into a cigarette-type power outlet each time we get ready to roll. This particular tire, a rear inner dual, has been slowly leaking down (2-3 psi each month) since I last filled it in Colorado Springs back in January. I’ve had this problem before on the opposite side inner-rear tire. It seems that Redlands Truck & RV didn’t properly tighten the stainless steel valve stem extenders that I had them install a couple years ago while we were in Quartzsite having new shocks put on. The only way to tighten the valve stem is to remove the tire.
So, I used a can of Fix-a-Flat that I keep on hand, for the Silverado tire and then topped it off with my air hose connected to the Coach’s on-board air compressor. With that done, we hooked up and headed into Parker AZ, only a few miles away, to find a tire repair shop for both vehicles.
After a quick stop at an RV Supply store to ask for recommendations and directions, we were directed to a small garage/service shop in downtown Parker. The tire technician couldn’t find a leak on the Silverado… guess the can of Fix-a-Flat did it’s job. They even pulled off both rear tires and leak-checked them. Although, this was due to miscommunication between their techs. Oh well – Total cost was only $13.
While a tire technician was working on the Silverado, another one made good time removing the rear tires on the Coach. He was amazed that I was able to use the HWH leveling jacks to raise the right rear of the coach when it was obvious his hydraulic floor jack wasn’t up to the task. Once the inner tire was off, we quickly confirmed that the valve stem was leaking by using a soapy water solution in a spray bottle. The leak was evident where the valve stem goes through the rim, and was made worse by wiggling the stem. A quick tighten was all that it needed. Total cost $14.
With our tire situation resolved, we stopped at the local WalMart to stock up on groceries for our week at Alamo Lake State Park. We were told about this state park by our new friend and fellow Alpine Coach driver, Nick Escamilla. We met Nick at the Fireworks Rally that we had just attended (link here). Nick and his wife Romana did an awesome job hosting the rally. They told us they had spent a week at the park prior to going to the Fireworks Rally and said it was a “must-see” for anyone that likes ATV’ing and fishing. But they warned us to take everything we might need in with us, because it’s about 35 miles from the nearest gas station or grocery store.
I made online reservations for the park and was able to find what looked like a good spot in the C loop for the 20th through the 27th. The park has different rates for different areas, depending on whether you want full hook-ups, just electric and water, or are willing to dry-camp. We followed Nick’s advice and reserved a spot in the C loop. Our cost was $22 per night for 30 amp electric and water hook-up.
So, we headed south out of Parker and turned east on 60. We figured we would find an overnight spot somewhere on our way there since it was still the19th and our reserved site wasn’t available until the 20th. However, after passing several opportunities that just didn’t have that “it” factor we quickly found ourselves at the turn-off to Alamo Lake at the town of Wendon. So we decided to just head on up north towards the lake.
After traveling the 35 miles or so up to the lake, we still hadn’t seen any spots to spend the night at, so we ended up at the ranger station and asked the nice ranger guy if a spot was available for the night. Our reservation wasn’t until tomorrow and the spot was currently occupied by someone else, but the site across from them was open.
The park ranger directed us into the site across from our reserved spot and told us that when the current occupants leave our reserved spot in the morning, to just move on over and then come back to the ranger station to settle up the extra night’s cost.
20 Feb (Friday)
On Friday morning, the occupants in the site across from us left early in the morning, so we moved on over, put up the flagpole, set out the tablecloth, and put up Stilla’s chili pepper/cactus awning lights since we were going to stay put for a while… Nice spot with nice views! We even have a few Saguaro cacti in the back yard.
Then we went back to the ranger station / general store to pay for the additional night and got I also broke down and got an Arizona fishing license for $55. The general store portion of the ranger station had plenty of basic commodities, like milk, cereal, drinks and ice cream. But I was certainly glad we had already stocked up on food after seeing the prices.
Here’s a layout of the parks campsite loops. We are now in site C34.
And here’s a bonus… it’s a hand-drawn map of the area ATV trails and significant destinations, courtesy of the nice ranger guy.
We took the pickup and toured around all the campgrounds and quickly decided we liked our choice of spots. We even drove over to check out the dam.
Here’s Stilla and little Coach with Alamo Lake in the background. You can tell the water level is low.
After we got back from touring the campground loops and the dam, we downloaded the ATV and rode down to the lake.
We found out that there is a dirt road that bypasses the state park campground and leads to many boondocking spots. Oh well, maybe next time… it’s nice to have electricity sometimes.
Back at our campsite, we relaxed for the evening. Nice view eh?
And Stilla made us some Nacho plates for our own personal “Happy Hour”.
Well, gotta go now… Scott and Julie are going to show us around the Prescott Valley area… maybe Sedona…
Our stay here at Havasu Springs Resort has come to an end 🙁 Time to move on today (Thursday). But first, here’s what we did the last couple days;
On Tuesday we hit the pool and relaxed in the hot tub for a while.
Then we took another long walk and explored the other half of the resort that we didn’t get to earlier.
Here’s another view of some RV spots and “vacation homes”… they can really pack-em-in when they want to, eh?
Another nice cactus garden.
Here’s the office building at the park’s entrance. This is where we first went when we rolled into the park.
We also visited the bar/restaurant. Looked like a very nice place, but we had already eaten so we just did a quick look-see.
Manicured tree near the motel area of the resort.
Our view out the windshield. All-in-all, a pretty uneventful day.
On Wednesday, we attended the mandatory presentation at the sales office.
It wasn’t painful at all. The presentation was very professional and no high-pressure sales tactics. They talked about their Colorado River Adventuresresorts (9 of them I think) and their affiliated programs, such as Coast-to-Coast, etc., We watched a video presentation and then talked to the sales manager. We never got as far as discussing costs or their different levels of membership. We explained that we just weren’t in a position to commit to anything like this right now. We still haven’t sold the house and we already have other memberships such as; Passport America, Escapees, Elks, VFW, American Legion, Good Sam, and military fam-camps. So, we thanked them for the opportunity to stay here and said we would consider such a membership in the future.
After the presentation, we decided to take the raft out on the lake. We drove the Silverado over to the boat ramp and unloaded the Sea-Eagle raft from the back seat.
After mounting the trolling motor, I launched the boat while Stilla parked the Silverado.
I came back in to shore to pick up Stilla and little Coach. Then we toured the whole resort side of the lake.
We passed a pontoon-type fishing boat, also a Sea-Eagle.
And another miniature lighthouse.
We pulled in to the inner harbor after being on the water for an hour or so and visited the gift shop that was next to the snack bar/restaurant.
Then we headed back to our put-in spot, but before calling it a day we toured some more of the coastline away from the resort and went around an island or two while just enjoying the sunshine and scenery.
Not bad for $10 a night… even with the mandatory sales presentation. Anyway, it’s time to move on now.
I reserved us a spot at Alamo Lake State Park for the 20th thru the 27th. So we’ll still have to find a spot for tonight (the 19th) on our way there. We have about 110 miles to find something.
